Travel sites vow to end sales ploy

Some of the biggest online hotel booking sites have vowed to end hidden charges and “misleading sales tactics”.

Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, Hotels.com, Ebookers and Trivago have been rapped by the Competition and Markets Authority, following an investigation.

The watchdog had concerns about issues like pressure selling, misleading discount claims, the effect that commission had on how hotels are ordered on sites, and hidden charges.

The companies have now agreed to make a series of changes to the way they operate, including:

• Search results – the sites will make it clearer how hotels are ranked, after a customer has entered their search requirements.

• Pressure selling – they’ve agreed to not give a false impression of the availability or popularity of a hotel, or to rush customers into making a booking based on incomplete information.

• Discount claims – they’ve agreed to be clearer about discounts and only promote deals that are available at that time.

• Hidden charges – they’ve agreed to display all compulsory charges such as taxes, booking or resort fees in the headline price. Guy Anker, from Moneysavingexpert, said: “It’s utterly ridiculously that you can’t always trust the first figure you’re shown when booking a hotel.

“It’s confusing for customers and makes doing a meaningful price comparison very hard. “We are glad a number of large firms have committed to being more transparent.”

Rory Boland of consumer watchdog Which? added: “These changes must now be swiftly implemented to stop these misleading practices, so customers can trust the deals they’re presented with.”